Huh? Cheney is Above the Law. Bush is Above the Law? Where is Congress?

[leftyladyfrommo]

You know this is really serious stuff here. This adm. has been pushing the envelope for six years - but I think the situation has really begun to blow up. NBC has it on their news - Has Cheney Gone Too Far. Seems like all the news channels have something on this stuff and so do all the papers.

But where the hell is Congress?

Does anybody know if they are doing anything to stop these crazies? And what can they do?

If they supoena and the "Executive Branch" (whatever the hell that is anymore) refuses what recourse do they have? Does it just mean a fight in the courts?

Does anybody have any idea what is really going on here?

[ixion]

1. congress is up a creek, IMO

if they continue to allow this type of behavior.

[leftyladyfrommo]

2. I know. Why aren't they just standing up and raising all kinds of

hell?

And the Republicans should be just as outraged over this as the Democrats.

This behavior is way byond the pale here.

[txaslftist]

11. Because they are spineless.

[ixion]

14. yep, spot on, that.

[AndyTiedye]

9. Congress May Be Up a Creek Anyway

and if the blackmail doesn't work, they have this anthrax, and you know how planes carrying key Democrats just happen to fall out of the sky :cry:

[ixion]

13. understood, they face a vicious Enemy of the People... however

they chose to run for office to represent the People, and likewise hold the reigns of power via the purse. They need to earn their keep, take a chance, grow a spine, and stand up to the * mafia.

[Individualist]

3. Aiding and abetting.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

[MNDemNY]

4. see paragraph 29 at link below.

http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html

[jobycom]

5. Congress is NOT above the law

so they are following legal channels.

[Ian David]

6. Below the radar? n/t

[Beelzebud]

7. They've got a shitload of Powder to keep dry for when something serious happens.

Because handing the court to a bunch of right-wing whacko's wasn't important enough to fight for, and apparently neither is the constitution.

[AndyTiedye]

19. Yes, they Have Lots of Nice Dry Powder

[Bandit]

8. How can they be above something that no longer exists?

There is no longer Law and Order In america at least for Republicans. There is only "get it while you can" and let Democrats clean up the mess.

[Bitwit1234]

10. With the two rulings by the Supreme Court today

who do you think will win the case. No guess..

[NV Whino]

12. Beneath the law.

[Solly Mack]

15. Oh, they're keeping up appearances...pretending Congress has

a function by creating laws Bush and Cheney don't have to follow

[0007]

16. Congress is out to lunch and monkeys are running wild....

[bigtree]

17. Showdown imminent between Bush, Congress

White House faces subpoenas to turn over information.
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau
06/24/07


WASHINGTON -- President Bush and the Democratic-led Congress are on a collision course over White House secrets, a sensitive conflict that is as old as the country itself.

Bush has invoked his war on terrorism to claim unprecedented and virtually unlimited executive powers, unchecked by Congress, the courts and at times even the Constitution.

He has declared that he is free to interpret or ignore laws as he chooses. He has refused to hand over his aides' e-mails to congressional investigators and has declined to let administration officials testify to congressional committees. He nearly provoked a mutiny in his Justice Department by asserting a right to spy on Americans without first getting warrants.

With Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee action approving subpoenas related to Bush's warrantless wiretap program, congressional Democrats now have hit the administration with more than two dozen subpoenas.

Unless some compromise is reached, the courts are the next stop in what probably will become a constitutional crisis.

As part of their investigation into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys, the House and Senate judiciary committees want the testimony of former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former deputy political director Sara Taylor. They've been called to testify in mid-July.

The committees also seek thousands of documents.

Among other things, they demand: "Agreements, contracts, letters or other correspondence, facsimile or e-mail transmissions, telephone messages, logs or records, memoranda, notes, diaries, graphs, formulas, models, bulletins, computer printouts, transcripts, analyses, returns."

read: http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/67950.html

[soothsayer]

21. isn't this a constitutional crisis??

[bigtree]

22. not until Congress asserts itself to demand enforcement

in some sort of resolution. And they will want to get as much support as possible for that . . . This WH and its embattled AG can be pressured and rocked silly with these subpoenas for a while though. Watch them squirm. I doubt they will let it get to the courts if there is something criminal at stake.

[radfringe]

18. where's congress?

hiding under the table

[LiberalEsto]

20. What law?

Ain't no more stinkin' laws, except for you & me.

[ljm2002]

23. Where are the people?

It's time not only for Congress to get tough but for the American people to get tough. Clearly Congress is unable to do this on their own. They are too far gone down the rabbit hole; the barrage of Beltway bullsh*t has confused their minds. What they need is an intervention, something to shake the cobwebs out of their heads and renew a sense of clarity and vision -- a reminder that they work for us, and under the rules set forth by the Constitution, which at this point has been bent, spindled and mutilated almost beyond recognition.

So where are the people? We've written letters, we've phoned, we've done the letters-to-the-editor thing, we've posted to boards like this one and we've held at least some of their feet to the fire -- but in the end, we are witnessing a power grab deepen and widen beyond our worst fears. So what is left? In my opinion it really will take people in the streets. Oh, not rampaging mobs; just large peaceful demonstrations in cities all across the US until Congress gets the message once and for all: you are letting us down, you are not asserting your / our rights, you are therefore complicit in the stealing of our republic by the worst thugs ever to hold high office in this land. AND IT HAS TO END NOW.

Because we have the Internet, it seems to me that a day could be designated for a mass but decentralized demonstration. My thinking is that people in each town demonstrate by showing up at that town's City Hall and petitioning their government for a redress of grievances, insisting that their local representatives pass it on up. Those who live in the county seats can petition them, and those who live in state capitals can petition them, and those who live in DC can petition the House and the Senate too.

A mass action like that might help encourage that attitude adjustment we're all looking for from our Congress critters.